'Life Best' Gokun Taek "Have You Seen 10 Under Par?"... Ham Jung-woo 6th Place

'Largest Prize in Korea' Genesis Championship Day 1: Shin Sang-hoon and Baek Seok-hyun Tie for 2nd, 4 Shots Behind Leader

Goguntaek is teeing off at the 15th hole on the first day of the Genesis Championship. Photo by KPGA

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] ‘Life Best’.

In his second year on tour, Go Gun-taek (22) surged to a surprising lead with a 10-under-par round. This happened in the first round of the Genesis Championship (total prize money 1.5 billion KRW), the largest prize money event on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Tour, held on the 7th at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Songdo, Incheon (par 72, 7,450 yards). He leads by 4 strokes over co-second place players Shin Sang-hoon (23) and Baek Seok-hyun (31), both at 6-under-par 66, marking a great opportunity for his first Korean Tour victory. Ham Jeong-woo (27, Hana Financial Group), the ‘Choi Kyung-ju Invitational Champion,’ is chasing from a tie for 6th place at 4-under-par.

Go Gun-taek is an elite former national team player, but since turning professional in 2019, he has not made much of an impact. His best results were a tie for 12th at the KPGA Gunsan CC Open last July and a tie for 18th at the same event this year. However, on this day, he collected 1 eagle and 8 birdies. His fairway hit rate was 92.86%, and his greens in regulation rate was 77.78%, showing excellent ‘clean hits.’ The highlight was a ‘shot eagle’ on the 9th hole (par 4), where he used an 8-iron from 160 yards.

It is interesting that the 10-under-par is Go Gun-taek’s career-low score. He exclaimed, "I have never shot 10-under even in unofficial events. Today, my aggressive play clicked well, and with the shot eagle, I was able to maintain a good flow." Regarding his lack of top-10 finishes so far, he said, "I think focusing on just making the cut made my results worse," adding, "Recently, my iron shot accuracy has improved, which has boosted my confidence."

Ham Jung-woo is attempting a bunker shot on the 15th hole on the first day of the Genesis Championship. Photo by KPGA

Ham Jeong-woo is a player to watch. On the 3rd, he recorded his second career win after 2 years and 5 months at the Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational, and he is aiming for ‘back-to-back wins.’ Defending champion Kim Tae-hoon (36, Bizplay) is tied for 22nd at 1-under-par, and Kim Min-hwi (29), who plays on the PGA Korn Ferry Tour (second-tier), is tied for 36th at even par. Although he made 6 birdies, two bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the 11th hole (par 4) slowed him down.

The showdown between ‘2nd in the Order of Merit’ Park Sang-hyun (38, Dong-A Pharmaceutical) and ‘2nd in prize money’ Seo Yo-seop (25, DB Insurance) is in a lull. Both players are tied for 52nd at 1-over-par. Park struggled with inconsistent iron shots, while Seo had difficulties on the greens. With Kim Joo-hyung (19, CJ Logistics), who has already secured 3 wins and is the ‘number 1,’ absent, this is an opportunity for them to advance in the individual title race. The second round has become even more important.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.